Camp HalfBlood What Do You Mean I'm A Demigod?
by Morwen Tindomerel
Summary: Five new demigods are brought to Camp Half-Blood, only they refuse to believe they ARE half-bloods. Set in the winter of 'The Titan's Curse'.
1. In Which We Are On Our Way To Camp

I jerked back to reality. I was in an airplane, not our family jet a commercial one, sitting in the middle of the first row of seats with Poppy on my right and Murphy across the aisle on my left with Sandy in the window seat and Terry across the right aisle. I had Mythomagic cards in my hands and so did the others. My heart pounded wildly; this was all wrong – we shouldn't be here! I have ADHD-PI so it's not at all unusual for me to zone out but I don't normally snap back in a panic!

I tried to remember: Mom and Dad had the plane, they were going to LA on business, and we…we were going to a camp – that's right – a special camp for ADHD kids in New York. We were going to spend the winter session there to see how we liked it. If we did we'd go back for a few weeks next summer. I put down my cards and wiped my hands on my jeans. Dummy, what's the matter with you? Everything's fine. We'd taken the first two rows in first class like we usually did when we flew commercial. All us Fields – including Mom and Dad - got ADHD. Murphy is Primarily Inattention like me but Poppy and Sandy are incredibly hyper, being close to the bathrooms and seat hopping helps.

"Hey, Fancy, you playing?" Sandy demanded impatiently.

I picked up my cards they were from my 'Age of Heroes' set. I was playing Tiresias – as a woman – like usual, with Hera as my patron. I threw down one of my Answered Prayer cards. "I pray to Hera for rain to put out the flames before they get to us."

"Wait a minute," Poppy protested, "this is Greek fire we're talking about here. Mere water can't put it out!"

"A magic rain from Hera can." I insisted.

"Right, the queen of heaven can do whatever she wants," Terry agreed and gave Poppy a quizzical look. "What's with you, Atalanta, you wanna burn to death?"

She blew out a sigh. "Okay, fine. We're all wet. What next?"

"Heracles says let's smash some monsters!" a typical Sandy contribution.

"Yeah, well Theseus says let's think before we act," Terry countered.

Sandy pouted, "You're always spoiling my fun, Theseus."

"Somebody's got to," muttered Murphy, aka Bellerophon.

A low chuckle came from the seat behind him. "Always listen to the smart guy, Heracles."

I turned my head to see the most gorgeous guy in the world sitting in the aisle seat behind Murph; short reddish dark hair, face like a Greek god, broad shoulders draped with black leather coat over a khaki Army sweatshirt. Older than me, but not impossibly so… Mark. That's it, his name was Mark and he was going to the camp too.

"Darn right," agreed another voice from the seat directly behind mine. That would be Poly, the gangly redheaded kid. And Callie would be sitting next to him behind Poppy with our chaperone Woody Groves (what a name!) across the aisle from her. We'd all been introduced at the airport, what was the matter with me? I was PI not an amnesiac! And why did I still have this nagging feeling that something just wasn't _right_ about all this? I tried to forget about it and concentrate on the game which went on in the usual way with Heracles charging in where even demigods should fear to tread and the rest of us yelling at him.

As I mentioned Sandy is incredibly hyper, he's also an undersized eleven with big geeky magnifying glasses which he claims help his dyslexia – we've all got that too - guess why he likes playing hulky Heracles. As usual he got us all killed in short order – it was the Hydra this time – and the game ended, as always with an argument.

Poppy, aka Atalanta, was ready to punch the kid – she takes Mythomagic _waay_ to seriously. Terry got between them and ordered a seat hop to defuse things. Terry is seventeen and very conscious of being the oldest which makes him a real pain at times. On the other hand trying to ride herd on four younger siblings who are either bouncing off the walls or zoning out can't be easy, especially when you're ADHD yourself. Better him than me!

Poppy settled grumpily next to Poly. He produced yet another gizmo, of which he seemed to have an endless supply, from the deep pockets of his trenchcoat. This one tooted and produced shots of steam and soon she was laughing – ADHD remember. Her interest in Poly was a new and unusual development, Poppy's sixteen to my fourteen and but a confirmed tomboy. She's got this notion that her carrot red hair, freckles and broad shoulders make her so ugly there's no point in even trying.

Meanwhile Mark was giving our baby brother pointers on how to fight hydras. "Frontal assault is _not_ the best way no matter how tough you are, you need to have a strategy or you end up with a thousand headed monster for some other poor hero to try to off."

"You play Mythomagic too?" Sandy asked eagerly.

Mark gave a funny kind of grin, "Never heard of it until today."

"There's something weird about this," Murph said softly across the aisle to me. Unlike the other boys, who are skinny and blond like Dad, he takes after Grandpa Dan being brown haired and stocky, and at twelve he hasn't lost all his puppy fat yet. He likes being Bellerophon because he gets to ride Pegasus. I'm a brownett too, like Mom.

"You feel it too?" I said, all my uneasiness returning full force.

He nodded. "I know we're going to some special camp on Long Island, but I've been trying and trying and I _can't_ remember when we heard about it or when we decided to go."

"Me neither." I looked at Woody, who was talking to Terry. He was a short skinny guy, maybe twenty or so, with a silly little goatee and stocking cap on his head. "Something very strange is happening here."

"Yeah," he agreed.

Then Callie stepped between us. It should be illegal to look that good. She made a yellow tunic dress over leggings work like crazy. Without makeup and with her hair done up in a sloppy twist she outshone any supermodel you care to name. It was so unfair. "Hey, we're supposed to be switching seats here."

Okay, fine. I got up and went to sit across the aisle from Mark. Might well take advantage of a chance to get close to the cute guy!

…..

La Guardia was a madhouse, as you'd expect less than two weeks to Christmas…wait a minute, Mom and Dad would _never _send us away to some camp over Christmas! The dislocated feeling came back full force and I came to a full stop right in the middle of the concourse. We weren't supposed to be here! What was going on?

Then Callie took me by the arm. "Come on, let's try to get to the luggage before the rush!" and the feeling vanished – but the memory of it didn't. I went along with the others but now I knew for sure that something weird was going on.

We collected our luggage, not much just a duffle-bag apiece for us Fields and backpacks for the other three kids, Woody didn't seem to have any luggage at all except for a 'man purse'.

Poly and Callie went off to get their cars while the rest of us waited. "Their families' are loaded," Mark explained casually, "like yours." He grinned to show he didn't resent it. "Woody and me are the spiritual, un-materialistic types."

Woody snorted.

Then a huge Hummer rolled up with Poly behind the wheel, followed by a low, slinky Porsche. My jaw dropped, and so did my brothers and sister's the Hummer had just about every customizable feature you can thing of from a roll cage to four triangular tank treads instead of wheels. It looked positively scary but the funny thing was it was exactly the same deep metallic gold color as Callie's Porsche, almost like they'd deliberately gone for matching cars – at least as far as paint went. Who rode where pretty much settled itself; Poppy and the kids hopped right into the Hummer and Woody followed them while Terry and I wriggled into the back seat of the Porsche and Mark rode shotgun, goody! We followed the Hummer onto highway 495 and headed east into the wilds of Long Island.

Terry tried to pump Callie and Mark about the camp. They seemed forthcoming enough but I got a definite feeling they were holding something back. There were lots of activities, they promised; arts and crafts, rock climbing, canoeing, and some academics too; history, languages, animal behavior - for some reason Mark had a coughing fit when Callie mentioned that last. There were twelve cabins but we Fields would be all together in number eleven which was reserved for new arrivals. There probably wouldn't be a lot of kids, winter session was always thinly attended, but summer would be a blast, and for some reason that comment got Mark a glare from Callie.

Terry and I looked at each other and I could tell that he was getting strange vibes too. I wasn't exactly scared but I didn't trust Callie - or Mark gorgeous as he was. And that went for Poly and Woody too. Who _were _these people? What was this camp and why were they taking us there? Were we being kidnapped? Had we been drugged or brainwashed somehow into thinking it was all okay? I know, I sound paranoid if not insane but all of a sudden our lives had gone all Twilight Zone.

Okay, it's not as if we Fields were exactly your average American family, for one thing we had a lot more kids and for another all those kids had learning disabilities which was why we were being home schooled. We had some tutors, especially in music, but mostly it was just Mom and Dad and I guess you couldn't really call it a balanced curriculum being heavy on the humanities. We knew Latin and Ancient Greek (which was a whole lot easier to read than English) Philosophy, Mythology and Literature but we were light on the sciences though we knew Geometry and Astronomy. To be honest what we were best at was Mythomagic and Mom and Dad's idea of phys-ed.

It didn't seem to worry the folks possibly because it was unlikely any of us would ever have to earn a living in the real world. We did have money, lots of it. I mean we had our own private jet which we used to circulate around six – yeah _six_ – homes stretching from sea to shining sea. Basically we lived in our own private bubble, Mom, Dad, us kids, Grandpa Dan, Grandma Teri and the aunts. It was _hugely _out of character for Mom and Dad to send us away from them to stay with a lot of strangers. Did they even know where we were and where we were going?

Okay. Now I was scared.


	2. In Which We Kick Bronze Plated Bootie

Traffic thinned as we passed through the New York City suburbs and out into what could only be called countryside. By the time we hit Montauk Highway there was nothing to be seen but trees and fields.

"This end of the island is mostly nature preserve and farms –" Callie was saying when Mark interrupted her:

"Incoming!" and something big hit the driver's side knocking us out of our lane and onto the verge.

Callie stepped on the gas and we went rattling along bouncing and jouncing - Porsches aren't what you'd call off-road vehicles. Mark cranked down his window and pulled a huge old fashioned revolver from under his coat. Terry gasped and pulled me closer to him and farther from the guy with the gun as Mark aimed it at something running alongside the car- something huge and tawny with wings, a long tail and a woman's head?

He fired and the sphinx – it _couldn't_ have been a sphinx! – vanished in a cloud of dust. "Keep going, maybe we can out run them!" Then something blasted into the windshield starring it like a supernova and eliminating visibility.

"Styx!" said Callie. "I'm pulling over.

"Guess Poly hasn't worked all the bugs out of his Celestial bronze glass," Mark said calmly as Callie hit the brakes throwing us all forward. "Stay in the car you two," he added, kicked the door open and was out in a flash with Callie sliding across the passenger seat right behind him.

Mark reached into his coat and pulled out a sword – yes a _sword_ – long and curved and wickedly sharp and best of all it was _glowing_. He dropped the coat and struck an ass-kicking pose, sword arched over his head and left arm held in front of him. His sweatshirt morphed into some kind of dark body-armor and a big, shiny shield formed on his arm. All I could think of was that game Dad had worked on when we were little - Highlander - we'd been kidnapped by Immortals?

Next to him Callie dropped her own coat, reached up and pulled the two long pins out of her hair. It came down and the pins grew into a matched pair of daggers with thin needle sharp blades and long curly guards. Her tunic changed too, lengthening to her ankles and going all shimmery and diaphanous as she struck a pose of her own.

Then I saw the guys they were squaring off against. They wore gold toned Greek armor over camo pants and jackets with big, brightly colored horsehair crests topping shiny helmets, round shields painted with crazy designs on their left arms and spears or swords in their hands. They stood in a square in the middle of the highway, two rows facing Mark and Callie the other two Poly and Woody.

The hummer was on its roof on the opposite side of the road with two big _things_ lying in a crumpled heap nearby and Poppy and the boys standing round eyed in front of it. Poly and Woody had placed themselves between the Greek guys (and I'm not talking Frat boys here!) and our siblings. Poly was wearing armor like Mark and had a brown and gold shield on one arm with what looked like a huge, evil hammer in his hand. Woody was swinging a big gnarled club in one hand and somehow managing to look seriously badass in spite of his stringy build and stupid goatee.

"Yield!" a Greek guy shouted, "you are outnumbered."

"What, five to one?" Poly said scornfully from his side of the road.

"Not enough," Mark agreed and the line immediately in front of him seemed to cringe away.

At that moment Terry and I were distracted big time. Callie had pulled right up against a tree blocking the driver side door – probably on purpose – but now the tree was shuddering and shaking like something was trying to pull it up by the roots, as it turned out something was. The tree vanished, showering the car with clumps of dirt, and a huge, bloodshot eye glared at us through the window then the door was literally yanked off its hinges and a huge fist reached inside. Terry kicked at it as I struggled to reach the door handle blocked by the front passenger seat. The hand caught one of Terry's legs and dragged him out of the car.

I tumbled after to see my brother hoisted up, up, _up_ by a twenty or thirty foot giant with one big eye in the middle of his forehead. Thanks to my classical education I immediately identified it as a Cyclops and screamed like Fay Wray – hey what else _could_ I do! Terry kicked his free leg and did mid-air sit-ups to pound the big hand with his fists. He was also cursing a blue streak in Ancient Greek – a surprisingly appropriate choice of language in the circumstances. Then, for no apparent reason, the big glaring eye closed and the giant slumped to the ground his hold on Terry loosed and my brother rolled free. I ran to see if he was all right.

Terry sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "What the –" and was interrupted by a loud snore from the crumpled heap of giant.

"It's asleep," I said brilliantly.

"Okay, that's weird."

'Like what isn't?' I was about to say when the clanging noise in the background suddenly registered on us both.

We rushed around the remains of Callie's Porsche – Terry round the front and me round the back – and right into the Battle of Thermopylae II. Mark had been right about five to one odds not being good enough; he, Callie, Poly and Woody were still up and swinging, which was more than could be said for six of the Greek guys, but all four were ringed in and isolated from each other while their opponents darted in and out of range getting some rest while their comrades kept our escorts busy. It was immediately clear this was not a tenable situation for our side.

Then three Greeks spotted me and headed in my direction. I walked steadily towards them and kicked the lead guy's helmet right off his head. It went sailing and he went down. Yeah – I can do that. Ballet teaches you how to kick high and (very) hard and the pointy toed Prada boots I was wearing didn't hurt either, or rather they did. I downed two more with kicks to the head, sliced the legs out from under the first guy who'd recovered enough to come back for more then – temporarily clear – took a running leap at a guy with a shield, dropped him, grabbed his shield and started wacking around with it. I caught a glimpse of Poppy punching a helmetless guy so hard teeth flew; of Terry using a spear like a Bo and of our two youngest brothers double teaming, Sandy hitting 'em high and Murphy low. And I saw Mark, Poly and Callie in action:

To say they were scary was a huge understatement. Mark was wearing this psycho-killer grin, even spookier than Poppy's, and I could swear his eyes were glowing red – just like his sword as it cut through armor like butter. Poly's hammer shattered shields and helmets and breastplates and probably skulls and ribs too. As for Callie - she was a vision in her shimmery golden gown, golden hair flying around her face like her own personal sunburst, her double daggers twinkling – and deadly. I saw a Greek take a slice at her leg and the blade rebounded from the flimsy folds of her dress like it'd hit Bessemer steel. The guy was knocked flat by the rebound but Callie barely staggered. That was weird enough but then I saw Woody bashing the last Greek left on his feet over the head with his club.

Our chaperone had lost the dumb wool cap he'd been wearing and two dark bumps, like horns, were visible atop his head. And he'd lost his shoes and what I saw at the end of his legs was _not_ feet! A sphinx, a Cyclops and now a satyr, I looked around at the prostrate bodies and bits of armor littering the ground. Had Long Island somehow been transformed into Mythomagic's ancient Greece when I wasn't looking?

"Everybody into the Hummer!" Poly ordered.

"Uh, Poly, it's upside down," Poppy reminded him. She had a bronze sword in one hand and an axe in the other, I was pretty sure I saw blood on the latter.

"Not a problem," he took out his keys and pressed a button on his clicker. The inverted Hummers' headlights flashed red then it tumbled back onto its treads and rolled right up to Poly like a very big dog coming to heel.

"Seriously Cool!" Sandy beamed.

All four doors popped open and I rather reluctantly followed Callie inside, wondering how we were all going to fit. It turned out not to be a problem; there were five passenger seats, three looking front two back, as well as a couple of jump seats in the luggage compartment.

Poppy was shocked. "Whoa! It didn't look like this before."

"I reconfigured," Poly said casually from the driver's seat.

"Super cool!" Sandy's enthusiasm was getting out of control. "Just like transformers."

Mark stretched out his long legs, he's over six feet but there was more than enough room for them like the Hummer was bigger on the inside than on the outside. Oh great, Doctor Who on top of Mythomagic and Transformers, what was this some kind of weird crossover?

He and Callie had the back looking seats, Terry, Poppy and me were facing them and our little brothers were sitting with the luggage. Woody was up front next to Poly who hauled hard left on the wheel sending us over the highway and into the woods. The Hummer's tractor-like treads and seriously springy suspension made the ride unexpectedly smooth.

Mark's eyes still gleamed red but his grin wasn't scary anymore, "You kids were amazing!" he told us. "Woody, we have got to keep this bunch out of Kronos' hands."

"I agree," the satyr said, a little grimly.

"Kronos," Terry echoed, "like the father of the gods, King of the Titans, _that_ Kronos?"

"The same," Mark nodded. "He's trying to make a comeback and it's up to us to prevent it."

"Us being -?" Terry prompted.

"Half-Bloods," Mark answered. "Or demigods if you prefer, those of us who haven't gone over to the wrong side."

"You mean those guys," I said, pointing back towards our highway battlefield.

"Yes," Mark looked grim.

Callie took up the explanation. "We're in the middle of a war, we need recruits –"

"No way!" said Terry

"Way!" Poppy contradicted.

"I don't think so," I told her.

"Aw guys –!" Sandy began.

"Shut up, kid, this is for real," Murphy finished for him.

"Exactly," said Terry, and glared at Poppy, "You want Murphy and Sandy killing people?"

"Uh," she looked embarrassed.

Mark leaned forward. "I can respect how you feel, Terry. I'm not crazy about my kid brothers and sisters fighting a war either but we got no choice."

"We have to save Olympus," Callie added. "Everything depends on it. Our parents need us."

"Parents?"

"The gods," she said simply.

We goggled at her.

Mark shrugged, leaning back. "I told you we were demigods didn't I? I'm a son of Ares, Callie here is a daughter of Aphrodite and the mad gadgeteer," he nodded back towards Poly behind him, "is a son of Hephaestus."

"And Woody?" I asked.

"I'm a satyr," he said, "a protector. It's my job to seek out half-bloods and see them safe to camp."

"Wait a minute," it was Poppy's turn to lean forward. "There's really a camp?"

"Camp Half-Blood," Mark, Callie and Woody all said in ragged unison. "It's a safe place where young heroes can train," the satyr finished alone.

"It's a real fun spot, you'll love it," Mark promised.

At this point a shoe dropped. "Wait a minute you think we're like you?" I demanded.

That got surprised looks. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't"

Poppy and Terry were both shaking their heads alongside me. "Sorry," my eldest brother said, "but you've made a mistake. We got two parents and neither of them is a god!"

Mark and Callie exchanged looks with Woody. "We don't understand it either," Poly said, keeping his eyes on the lack of road. "Five half-bloods with the same parentage is unprecedented but there's no mistake. You can trust a satyr's nose, it always knows."

"Half-bloods have a distinctive scent," Woody explained around the headrest of his bucket seat. "Satyrs can detect it, and so can monsters."

"Monsters!" we echoed, stunned.

"Like the sphinx and Cyclopes back there," Mark explained. His eyes narrowed. "Don't weird things happen to you, dangerous things you can't explain?"

"Not till now," Terry said grimly.

"They've been kept isolated," Woody told Mark then shook his head, "but five half-bloods together? They'd have to attract trouble – unless they've got a strong protection of some kind."

Mark shrugged. "Chiron will figure it out."

"Chiron? Like the centaur?" I blurted.

"Our activities director," said Mark.

"Okay," I said, "that's it. I want to go home."

"That's just what you can't do," Callie said sympathetically. "Don't you see, Fancy, whatever protection you may have had is gone now. Kronos' minions know who you are. You join us – or them."


	3. In Which We Arrive At A Strange Camp

Poly turned off the beach sending the hummer bouncing down a rough track with hills on our right and dense forest on our left.

"After we get you settled in I'll show you how to kill a real hydra," Mark said to Sandy.

"Huh?" we all said.

"The woods are stocked with monsters," Mark explained casually. "I know a hydra had a den near the creek last summer, he should still be there unless one of the year-rounders got him."

Before I could ask why the heck anybody would deliberately fill a forest with monsters we nearly collided with a troop of riders. They scattered skyward.

"Pegasuses!" Murphy crowed, practically falling over the back of the seats in his excitement. "Real pegasuses, how cool is that?"

"Okay," Terry said across Poppy to me, "It's official. I am totally weirded out.

"Join the club," I answered him.

"You two are no fun," Poppy complained.

"Yeah," Sandy piped up from behind us, "It's great, like a Mythomagic LARP with real props."

Terry and I shared an eye roll.

The trail ended at a long, low building that our noses told us had to be the stable. Poly hung a left and we went bouncing through a lightly wooded valley while Callie and Mark pointed out the sights. There was a low stone armory, an oval track with marble stands at either end which was for chariot races, and a circular arena for sword and spear fights. The rest of Long Island had been covered with dirty gray slush, the half melted remains of the last snowfall, but the trees and grass here inside the camp were only lightly frosted. Poly circled around a big field planted with tidy rows of something or other and parked in front of a big blue painted house its windows, eaves and wrap-around porch all trimmed with what looked at first glance like Christmas lights but which on closer examination proved to be little balls of red or yellow flame with no bulbs or wires or anything.

I shuddered. _Totally_ weird, I did not like this place one bit!

Woody led the way inside the house and through an open door into an old fashioned double parlor smelling of burning wood and hot chocolate. We Fields stayed close together with Callie, Mark and Poly bringing up the rear. Two men were seated on either side of a game table set up in front of the far fireplace concentrating on the cards in their hands. A middle aged, bearded man in a warm sweater patterned with horseshoes faced us opposite somebody with curly blue-black hair wearing a neon orange leopard print warm-up suit which his chubby figure made clear was just a fashion statement - or rather misstatement.

The bearded man looked up and smiled. Laying down his cards he maneuvered his wheelchair from behind the table. Behind him the other player hunched his shoulders and kept his back to us. "All present and accounted for I see, excellent, excellent," the bearded man seemed very relieved by the fact, "any trouble?"

"Just a score or so of Kronos' half-bloods, a few Cyclops and a sphinx," Mark said. He was standing behind me but I could almost see his shrug. "No real problems."

Unbelievably the guy nodded as if he agreed. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood he said to Terry. "I am Chiron, camp activities director." So he wasn't a centaur then, thank goodness!

My oldest brother stepped forward. "I'm Terry Fields, these are my sisters Poppy and Fancy, and my brothers Murphy and Sandy, and there's been some mistake. We don't belong here."

"You can say that again," I muttered.

Poppy sighed. "Not that this place isn't cool and everything but Terry's right. We've got two parents and neither of them is a god."

"Maybe we could stay anyway?" Sandy asked hopefully.

"Just for a few days," Murphy added. "I really want to ride a Pegasus at least once."

I wanted to go home right now, but I didn't say so.

The guy in the warm-up suit finally turned around. His chubby cheeks sagged in jowls and both his nose and his eyes were bloodshot like he was suffering from a permanent hangover. "Made a mistake have we?" he said in a voice that was anything but friendly. Woody flinched.

"This is our camp director, Mr. D," said Chiron.

"No disrespect intended, sir," said Terry standing up for the satyr. "Woody has explained to us about demigod scent and all that but we just can't be what you think we are. I mean gods don't get married and hold down jobs, do they?"

Chiron frowned. "I admit your case is quite unprecedented, _five_ half-bloods of identical parentage, but –"

"If you're going to say maybe our mom and dad aren't our real parents you can forget it," Poppy interrupted him. "Terry and Sandy look just like Dad –"

"And Poppy and I can remember Murphy and Sandy being born," Terry added.

"Just like your father…" Mr. D mused. He held out his hand, curved as if holding something and a can of diet coke materialized inside it in a twinkle of silvery light.

I gulped.

"Wow, cool! How did you do that?" Sandy enthused. I felt like kicking him but he was out of reach.

Mr. D was no more amused than I was. He took a gulp of his coke and gave us a watery glare.

"These kids took down twice their number of Kronos' demigods, Chiron," Mark said. "They've had some training."

Chiron's eyebrows rose. "In martial arts," Terry explained. "It's a good way to burn off energy."

"I got two black belts," Sandy said proudly.

"Will you shut up," I snarled.

"You're not the boss of me!" he shot back.

I'd had all I could take and more. Sandy's mouth was the last straw. I took a step to close the distance between us and aimed a spin kick at his head. He rolled under it and grabbed at my ankle trying to get me off balance. I flipped back into a handstand and onto my feet in time to block a side blow to my ribs. I got Sandy by the arm but he twisted, shifting leverage on me, and I went flying again, rebounding off a wall and into Terry.

"Fancy, this is not helping –"

I just wanted to fight and I didn't much care who. He arm blocked my first kick, and my second and even my third then I dropped and sliced his legs from under him. That's when Poppy dove in and the fight became general. The room was large and there wasn't much furniture to get in the way or be damaged - luckily.

We fought in our usual mish-mash of styles and techniques with gymnastic moves thrown into the mix. It started out with Terry, Poppy and Murphy trying to subdue Sandy and me but pretty soon it turned into an every man for himself brawl.

It was fun. When we finally fell apart by mutual agreement some fifteen minutes later I was feeling much better about everything. At least until Mr. D started clapping.

"Very amusing," he drawled and drained off the last gulp of his coke. "But I think I've been entertained enough for one afternoon. Run along now." He turned back to his card game picking up his hand; "Your bid, Chiron."

Mark, Callie, Poly and Woody hustled us out of there.

"I cannot wait to get you kids in my unarmed combat class," Mark announced as we descended the porch steps. "Have you done any work with weapons?"

Callie interrupted Poppy's answer. "I can't wait for Poly to fix my car. Why don't you guys go get it?"

Poly looked at her, "Both of us?"

"Definitely," she said with considerable emphasis.

Mark shrugged, "Okay, okay, I can take a hint."

"Since when?" Poly asked taking his arm and steering him towards the Hummer.

"I'm gonna get a root beer," Woody announced, "Maybe more than one." He climbed back up the steps to the porch heading for a pair of open French doors with a sign reading 'Store' posted over them.

That left us with Callie. "Let me show you where you'll sleep."

What could we do? We followed her past an empty volley ball court which contrasted oddly with a white marble building like a small Greek temple. It had pillars but no walls and inside I could see easels and potters' wheels and big chunks of marble roughed into vaguely human shapes.

"That's the Arts and Crafts shop," Callie said casually.

Great, we could learn to throw Greek amphora and chip marble statues. We crossed a stream running down from the hills around the camp and followed it to a good sized lake surrounded by woods and hung a left to the cabins.

There were, of course, twelve of them, gathered in a U around a green studded with fountains, marble statues, flowerbeds and basketball hoops – which really didn't fit with the classical theme. Two miniature Greek temples stood side by side at the head of the U. The lightning bolts on the bronze doors of the larger one and the peacocks carved on the smaller made it clear which gods they belonged to. But not all the cabins looked like temples; One looked like a Hobbit hole with a green grass roof and round door; another like a WWI bunker with barbed wire and trenches; one seemed to be made entirely of gold and shone so bright it hurt the eyes and opposite it stood another all of silver.

Callie led us directly to the most normal looking of the lot at the end of one arm of the U. "This is Cabin Eleven, where you'll be staying."

It was a faux log cabin painted brown with a green porch across the front and big golden caduceus – the symbol of Hermes - and a number eleven above the door. The inside was normal too, if a little crowded. Double decker bunks seemed to occupy just about every square foot of space lining the walls and a low plank divider down the middle of the cabin.

Two boys, alike enough to be twins, sat on a top bunk facing the door playing cards. "Hey, Callie," said one, "Got new campers?"

She nodded. "Travis and Connor Stoll, meet the Fields; Terry, Poppy, Fancy, Murphy and Sandy." She turned to us. "The Stolls are co-counselors of Cabin Eleven.

"Nice place," said Terry.

I agreed. It was so normal and all of a sudden I just _loved_ normal!

Connor and Travis – or maybe it was Travis and Connor I couldn't tell them apart – grinned happily at the compliment. "Thanks!"


	4. In Which We Meet The Other Campers

"Girls on the left boys on the right," said Travis, or maybe Connor, after Callie left. "Take any bunk that isn't made up."

There was only one made up bunk on the girls' side, an upper next to the front window. The others were arranged head to foot in three rows, one against the outer wall, one down the middle leaving narrow aisles on either side and one against the plywood divider separating us from the boys. The thin striped mattresses were bare but each had a little pile of folded linens and blankets at the foot with a pillow on top. Poppy and I exchanged looks and shrugs and picked the first pair against the divider. I sat down on the bottom bunk and abruptly realized my bags were still in Callie's Porsche but it didn't worry me long, I had bigger problems.

"We've really fixed the place up since we became counselors," Connor, or maybe Travis, was saying on the other side of the divider. "Painted, fixed the porch –"

"Got more bunks," his brother chimed in.

"Yeah," the first Stoll continued. "We used to have sleeping bags all over the floor. Now everybody can have a bed like the other cabins."

"We're always crowded," the second Stoll explained, "because we get all the new campers until they're claimed."

"Claimed?" Terry asked.

"Yeah," Connor – or Travis' – voice lost some of its cheerfulness. "Most kids don't know who their godly parent is when they get here –"

"We did," said his brother, "because it was Dad who brought us, not a satyr like usual."

"We were lucky, most kids have to wait for their parent to claim them - and well - sometimes it takes a while," the first brother finished, sounding _very_ uncomfortable.

"We're not gonna get claimed," Terry said.

"Hey, don't think like that," one of the brothers protested even more uncomfortably. "The gods have gotten a lot better about it lately."

"Yeah," the other agreed. "Our Dad's really shaped up and some of the others –"

"I mean our parents are mortals," Terry interrupted. "We live with them, both of them. Dad's a game designer and Mom used to be a ballerina. They've been married for nearly twenty years.

"And they're our real parents," Poppy added from her top bunk.

"For sure," Terry agreed emphatically. "You guys have made a mistake."

"That's not possible," one of the Stolls argued. "A satyr's nose knows, and Woody is one of the best."

"On the other hand five Half-bloods with the same parentage is pretty out there," his brother said slowly.

"That's true," the first one admitted. "I mean a god hanging around long enough to have two kids with the same mortal like Dad and our Mom is pretty unusual – I've never heard of more."

"Well, there're the Porters -" one Stoll began

"That's the same mortal parent," the other finished. "Mrs. Porter is a real god-magnet - completely different."

"I guess."

Suddenly the front door thumped open and a redheaded girl with the same slanting brows and upturned nose as the Stolls bounced in. "Callie's spotted the Hunters!"

"Oh wow, can't miss that!" our two counselors practically fell over each other getting out the door. Poppy swarmed down the foot board of our bunk after them. The boys followed. After a moment I got up and went after them.

They were on the porch, crowded against the railing, all eyes fixed on Callie, shimmery golden and so beautiful she glowed in her long dress with her hair around her shoulders. She was toe to toe with a pair of girls; their shirts and jeans were palest gray and seemed to glimmer softly - like their skins - with a pale moony light. Callie had a smile on her face but she looked dangerous, not friendly and the two girls were looking fierce and scared. And I didn't blame them one bit.

"So what are these Hunters?" Poppy asked softly.

"Followers of Artemis," the other red haired girl whispered back. "Sworn maidens – very anti-boy – which doesn't go over well with children of Aphrodite!"

"Or those of us of the guy persuasion," one of the Stolls added.

"Fact is the Hunters aren't popular with anybody around here," said the other.

As a girl with a healthy interest in boys – and three brothers – I knew I was going to join the crowd on this one.

Callie finished her conversation with the Hunter girls and strolled back to us as they ducked into the silver cabin. "So," she said leaning on the wrong side of the railing which came about up to her chin, "where'd you get the centaur blood?"

"The infirmary," Stoll number one answered. "They keep some on hand in case Chiron hurts himself. We didn't take much."

"Pretty nasty trick," said Callie.

"You wanna know what she did -!" Stoll number two began hotly.

Callie raised a hand. "Hey, I'm not saying she didn't deserve it. I know Hunters. I've challenged them to a rematch by the way."

The Stolls and the redhead exchanged looks. "Uh, Callie, Mr. D _really_ won't like it if we burn down his cabin again -" the girl began.

"A capture the flag rematch," said Callie.

More looks. "Uh, Cal, Hunters _never_ lose capture the flag," said a Stoll.

Callie smiled like a cat contemplating a plump canary. "There's a first time for everything."

…

We'd finished making up our bunks and were wondering what to do with ourselves next when a horn sounded in the distance.

"Dinner," said Stoll number one looking up from his cards.

"The mess is on a hill behind the Zeus and Hera cabins," said Stoll number two. "You can't miss it."

"Aren't you coming?" Terry asked, surprised.

The Stolls exchanged looks. "That – um – wouldn't be smart just now," said one.

"Hunters have _no_ sense of humor," said two.

I just bet they didn't.

"We'll bring you something," promised Murphy who can't imagine missing a meal.

Stoll one grinned. "Don't bother we got an arrangement with the nymphs."

Nymphs? Never mind, I didn't want to know.

Kids were coming out of a few of the other cabins; Poly and a couple of big muscular boys from the miniature factory next door to Cabin 11, a stream of gray clad Hunters poured out of the silver cabin across the way with three or four very pretty girls with Callie among them coming from the cabin next door and very pointedly keeping their distance. Mark came out of the ugly red cabin on our side as we passed, but that seemed to be it.

The mess turned out to be an open pavilion, roofless but ringed by tall columns, perched on top of a high hill with a good view of the ocean and the valley. I figured it would be freezing but the torches attached to the pillars and bathtub sized brazier in the center made it comfortably warm. Picnic tables covered with purple edged white cloths were arranged in a U, like the cabins, which meant the one at the end of the row on the left had to be ours. The redheaded girl was already sitting there. She smiled at us as we settled into a row on the opposite bench.

"Hi, I'm Tricks by the way. I forgot to introduce myself before."

"Tricks?" Terry, Poppy and I echoed uncertainly.

"Trix," she corrected, "short for Beatrix."

We all nodded involuntarily. "Definitely Trix," said Poppy who hates her name too.

"I think so."

Two little boys, about Sandy's age, ran up. One was very dark with olive skin, blue black hair and nearly black eyes. The other had a brown crew cut and lighter brown eyes. They came to a full stop at the sight of us Fields.

"This is Nico and Harry," Trix said. "They're new too. Sit down kids."

Terry introduced us and pretty soon Sandy and the two other boys were talking a mile a minute about how totally cool this place was.

I looked around. Our table and the Hunters' were the only ones with more than few campers sitting at them. Most were empty and Mark sat all alone at his, directing a smoldering look at the Hunters that would have made me very nervous if it were aimed at me.

Something went clip clop on marble pavement I twisted around and my jaw dropped. Chiron was a centaur. His sweater clad torso was now riding a white stallion body instead of a wheelchair. Mr. D was with him, slumping into a big stone chair at the head of the table opposite ours. Chiron stood at the other end. Woody and a couple of other satyrs sat on the benches.

Chiron tapped his foot on the pavement for attention then raised his glass; "To the gods!"

"To the gods!" everybody echoed.

Pretty girls in flimsy green dresses with snow sprinkling their hair put big platters of barbecue, pizza and fruit on the tables.

"Just say what you want to drink," Trix told us, adding to her glass, "Doctor Pepper." And instantly it was full of frothy brown liquid.

Ho-kay.

"Cool!" my littlest brother was beginning to get on my nerves again. "Beer!" Nothing happened.

"Non-alcoholic," said Trix with a smile.

Sandy's face fell. He shrugged and said, "Seven-up."

I considered going thirsty but what the hay … "Milk."

Poppy looked at me in disbelief. "You can have anything you want and you pick _milk_?"

"I like milk," I said and took a sip.

"Don't eat anything until you've made an offering," Trix warned.

"What?"

"Follow me," she picked up her plate and walked towards the central fire. "Hermes," she said quietly and dropped a slice of pizza into the flames.

Ho-kay, when in Rome and all that. I looked at my plate, decided on the slice of garlic bread and dropped it in. "Hermes."

Trix looked at me curiously. "I thought you hadn't been claimed yet?"

"What's that got to do with it?" Terry asked a barbecued rib in his hand.

"You offer to your godly parent," little Harry explained and tossed a very out of season peach into the fire. "Hecate."

"We don't have a godly parent," Terry said firmly.

It didn't matter how often we said it these people just would _not_ believe us!

After dinner Chiron stomped for attention again and gave Mr. D a highly significant look. The Camp Director rolled his eyes, pushed back his carved marble throne and stood up. "As you may have noticed we have several new campers; Toby, Pippa, Phoebe, Murdoch and Stevie Feldman -" Terry opened his mouth Trix shook her head emphatically at him and he shut it. "-Welcome to Camp Half-blood la-la-la, now go sing your silly songs. I will see all your shining faces in the morning – unfortunately!"

"Mr. D gets everybody's name wrong," Trix whispered as he stomped off down the hill towards the Big House. "Just ignore it."

Like everything else at Camp Half-blood the singalong was just a little bit off. The tune of the first song was familiar but the words sure weren't.

_One little head on the hydra, one little hydra head_

_If somebody should cut off the head, how many hydra heads will you have?_

_Two little heads on the hydra, two little hydra heads_

_If somebody should cut off a head, how many hydra heads will you have?_

In case you're wondering the answer's three, and so on and so forth. At least there were s'mores.

When we got back to the cabin we found somebody had brought our bags so we had pajamas and toothbrushes and such. The normality of Cabin 11, compared to the rest of this place, felt great but I still didn't expect to get a wink of sleep between the totally weird day I'd just had and the strange bed.

I was wrong.


	5. Who Knows What Dreams May Come

I woke up on the sofa of our family room in the Chicago townhouse and pulled myself upright. Whew! What a totally weird dream. Was I ever glad to be awake! Looking around I saw I wasn't the only one who'd been taking a nap. Poppy and Sandy were propped up on their elbows down on the carpet and Terry and Murphy were in the recliners rubbing their eyes.

Dad was standing in front of the fireplace and he looked furious. Mom was hanging onto his arm like she was trying to keep him from flying off and killing somebody. I was worried but not scared. I knew it wasn't us Dad was mad at. Like I said before Dad is tall and skinny with a long boney face, blond hair and these fabulous blue eyes that we've all been lucky enough to inherit.

Mom is little, brunette and pretty. I look a lot like her except she has brown eyes. "Calm down, Sandor," she was saying. "Losing your temper now will just make things worse."

"I can't believe even Olympus would sink this low," he hissed through clenched jaws. "Kidnapping my children and holding them hostage -!"

Mom shook his arm. "Sandor! Nobody knows whose children they are. Chiron just thinks he's found five new demigods -"

"To brainwash into fighting for Olympus," Dad snarled.

"That's not the way he looks at it, dear. You can't blame him for taking a one sided view of the issues."

Dad sighed and tried to relax. "I know you're fond of the old stallion, and Hades knows I have nothing against him. But he works for the Olympians and I don't want _them_ getting their hands on the children!"

"Neither do I," Mom looked troubled. "But they're at camp now and we have to decide what to do about it."

My heart sank. Camp Half-Blood was real? We did belong in that crazy mixed up mythological world? Terry's face looked the way I felt but Poppy and the kids were all bright eyed and excited.

"Can we stay?" Murphy begged. "Just for a little while, they've got Pegususes!"

"Pegusi," Mom corrected and smiled. "I think they should stay, Sandor." Dad opened his mouth to object but she pushed on over him: "Think about it, dear. We don't want Kronos recruiting them either do we? It will be much easier getting them out of Camp Half-Blood when the time comes."

"Dad," Terry said hesitantly. "Are you the god, or is it Mom?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm not going to answer that, son. The less you know the safer you are."

"Frustrating but true," Mom added with a rueful smile. "Stay at camp, children, and have fun. It really is a wonderful place for people like us."

Then I woke up for real back in that not so wonderful place.

It was maybe between seven and eight o'clock. Trix was up and getting dressed and there were stirring noises from the boys' side of the divider. The sun was still trying to burn the mist off of the little river and canoe lake as we headed up the hill to breakfast. The menu – thank goodness – was different from last night; there was a choice of fried or scrambled eggs, bacon or ham, and seven different kinds of toast. Mr. D was nowhere to be seen but Chiron raised a glass of orange juice to the gods and I gave them some of my scrambled eggs.

Sandy, Nico and Harry had become fast friends overnight. They sat together at one end of the table comparing mythomagic cards and figurines. Mark was still all alone at the Ares cabin table and he was still giving the Hunters the evil eye but now with an unnerving hint of psycho-killer grin, like he'd gotten a wonderful terrible idea.

Terry dragged Sandy away from his new friends, asked Trix to excuse us and pulled us all into a huddle mid-table. "Anybody else dream about Mom and Dad last night?" he asked softly. Four hands went up. "Okay, then you heard them. They're not crazy about us being here but now we are we're to stay put."

Sandy and Murphy beamed. I sort of sighed. Poppy frowned. "But how can either of them be a god?" she muttered.

Terry leaned in more and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Maybe they're not. Think about it, they both know all about this place. What if they met here? What happens when two Half-Bloods have kids?"

We've done Mendelian genetics. "They'd have demigod traits too," I whispered. Everybody nodded. Now that made sense – or at least as much sense as anything around here did.

After we finished eating Chiron stamped for attention again. "There will be a capture the flag rematch tonight against our guests the Hunters of Artemis." He didn't sound at all happy about it but the campers raised a cheer before scattering in all directions.

Our horsey activities director then clip-clopped over to our table to pass out a handful of printed sheets of camp activities for the new kids. "Normally cabins take their activities together," he explained, "But there are so few of us here over the winter that we allow campers to choose their own schedules."

I looked at my sheet:

08:00-09:00 Breakfast

09:00-10:30 First Activity Period: Classes - Greek language, Mythology, History; Chores - Lunch Preparation, Store checks, Cleaning Stables, Polishing armor

10:30-12:00 Second Activity Period: Training - Archery, Javelin throwing, Sword skills, Monster assault techniques, Pegasus riding

12:00-1:00 Lunch and cabin inspection

1:00-3:30 Third Activity Period: Further training OR Weapon-making, Ride the rapids, tracking skills, Wrestling, Volleyball

3:30-5:00 Fourth Activity Period: Further training/Classes/Chores

5:00-6:00 Free Time: Letters Home, Cabin clean-up, Laundry, etc.

6:00-7:00 Dinner

7:00-9:00+ Activities: Volleyball league, Un-armed combat, Archery knockout, Trials of strength, Campfire singalong. On Fridays Capture the Flag.

10:00 Lights out

"Cabin 11 doesn't have morning chores today," Trix added, which was good news. "And classes are optional, so you guys can do whatever you want."

Sandy and Nico wanted to stay right there at the table and teach Harry how to play mythomagic. Murphy of course made a beeline for the Pegasus stables. Terry and Poppy accepted Trix's offer of a guided tour but I preferred to wander around on my own – okay, maybe I was hoping to run into Mark, is that a crime? Unfortunately he wasn't hanging around the cabins and I didn't feel like being quite so obvious as to actually knock on number 5's door so I continued on down to the Big House to have a look at the camp store.

The French doors we'd seen yesterday opened onto a big room with a linoleum floor, maybe the old kitchen. At first glance it looked like any other camp store with racks of t-shirts, shorts and hoodies; shelves of toiletries and first aid kits, sleeping bags, backpacks and trunks. There was an icebox full of sodas and ice cream treats, and against the wall near the door there were racks of magazines, paperback books and brochures.

I started to look through the t-shirts. They were orange with the words 'Camp Half-Blood' and a Pegasus on the front and a lot of different things on the back. Some had 'Camp Satyr/You Want Hooves, We Got Hooves' but most had a cabin number and a joke or motto: 'Cabin 4/We Talk To Trees – And They Listen!'; 'Cabin 5/Whatcha Looking At Punk?'; Cabin 6/Athena's Always Got A Plan'; Cabin 7/We Don't Do Haiku'; Cabin 9/You Name It, We Make It; Cabin 10/Born To Stop Traffic. When I got to 'Cabin 11/No, We Haven't Seen Your Wallet' I burst out laughing.

Okay, this place was weird but it's not like I've ever been normal anyway. Mom said to have fun, so I'd have fun. I tried not to think about what Dad had said. The important thing was they knew where we were, they had it covered.

"Do you take credit cards?" I asked the woman behind the counter.

She was tall and beautiful with little white flowers woven into her curly brown hair and gave me a warm smile. "Oh yes, we accept both mortal cards and Olympian Gold Cards." Olympus had credit cards? I handed over my Visa platinum to pay for five Cabin 11 t-shirts in assorted sizes. "You're one of our new campers aren't you, child?"

I nodded. "My brothers and sister and I got here yesterday."

The storekeeper looked interested. "Ah, yes the family of five, very unusual."

"That's what everybody keeps telling us," I shrugged collecting the bag with the t-shirts. "We can't believe we belong here, but you guys are the experts."

"We don't quite know what to make of you either, my dear," she answered. "But you are Half-Bloods, which means camp is the best place for you in these dangerous days."

"We definitely don't want to be picked up by Kronos," I agreed. Of course Mom and Dad didn't want us recruited by Olympus either but I didn't think it would be smart to say so. The folks had sounded like they wanted to keep out of this war altogether and I was all for that.

I checked out the icebox next. It had the usual stuff; Coke, Pepsi, Root Beer, right alongside something called 'Nectar Soda' and the popsicles included 'Ambrosia on a stick'. I bought one, expecting from the color it would taste like butterscotch but it didn't. It tasted like the best chocolate in the world wrapped around sweet, creamy vanilla ice cream, yum!

On the way out I had a look at the book racks. The first thing I noticed is everything was in Ancient Greek which made it much easier to read the titles; there were big paperbacks with names like 'Mythological Monsters and How To Kill Them', 'Magic and You: A Guide to Counterspells and Defensive Charms' or 'Do It Yourself Weapon Crafting'. And series paperbacks like 'Cytherean Romances' or 'Hercules Busts Heads: Season One'. There was a newspaper, 'Olympus Weekly', and magazines with titles like 'Aphrodite: Beauty Tips for Demigoddesses'; 'Automata Today' with what looked like a giant robot on the cover; and Muse Digest. And then there were the brochures.

If I'd been wondering what kind of careers Camp Half-Blood prepared you for here was the answer. There was a brochure for the Hunters with Artemis on the cover. Another with a cowboy riding a fire breathing horse under the words: Triple G Ranch - Do You Have What It Takes to Wrangle Monsters? A leather clad woman with come-hither look in her eye was captioned 'Amazons Want Men: You Too Can Be Loved and Cherished by a Strong Warrior Woman'. Hephaestus Industries, I was informed, had been 'Supplying Olympians and Heroes with the Latest in Magical Tools and Weapons since 3000 BCE.' C.C.'s Spa and Resort invited me to 'Achieve Your Full Potential!' And Argo Shipping Co. promised I could 'Sail the Wine Dark Sea, Visit Exotic Lands and Kill Sea Serpents!' There didn't seem to be any openings for ballerinas though and I kind of had my heart set on following in Mom's footsteps.

I walked out onto the Big House porch with my bag of t-shirts and my ambrosia on a stick and right into tall, dark and gorgeous. "There you are, Fancy, I've been looking for you," Mark said. Which was terrific until he spoiled it by adding; "We need you for our strategy session."

Oh well, it was a start.


	6. In Which We Get Cool New Toys

The strategy session was held in Cabin 11 for the very good reason that the Stolls endangered life and limb if they set foot outside it. They sat together on Travis' lower bunk. Callie and a seriously gorgeous brunette shared the bunk opposite with Poly and a big, buff African American guy on one side of them with Terry and Poppy opposite. Mark and I sat down on the last bunk in the middle row.

"Okay," Mark began, "Here's the plan; first we set up an Annabeth with Travis and Connor here -"

"A what?" Terry, Poppy and I said pretty much all together.

"It's a special kind of diversion invented by a daughter of Athena named Annabeth," One of the Stolls began.

"Basically it means putting a guy the other side wants dead out as bait," finished the other Stoll. "Forget it Mark!"

"What? You don't want to show the Hunters what heroes can do?"

"Sure, but we want to live too!"

"You'll be fine," Callie said with a reassuring smile.

Both Stolls recoiled like she'd spat poison at them or something. "Uh-uh! You're not charming us into suicide, daughter of Aphrodite or no!"

"You're not going to be alone," Mark explained patiently. "You're going to have these three and their kid brothers as guards."

The Stolls looked unconvinced. I was ready to do just about anything Mark wanted me to do but – "Who us?"

"Yeah, you're new and presumably untrained the Hunters are bound to underestimate you."

"Trav, Con," Poly put in, "you haven't seen these kids in action, we have. You're gonna be fine – trust us."

"I don't know," Terry began uncertainly.

"Hey," said Mark, "son of Ares here. I say you're good enough to face Hunters, you're good enough."

"Yeah," Poly agreed. "That kung-fu fighting style of yours really kicks butt."

"Kronos' half-bloods didn't know how to handle it, remember?" Callie added.

That was true…

"Take my advice," said Mark, "get up close and personal. Hand to hand is your area of expertise and clean out of the Hunters' comfort zone. They're into ranged weapons."

"Speaking of weapons," prompted Callie.

"Right." said Poly. "I'll get these guys suited out while the two of you explain the rest of the plan to our counselors here." He stood up, "Come with me, Fields."

…

Poly led us next door to the miniature factory and around back where a sort of metal warehouse was built onto the back, its door secured with a complicated combination lock. I don't know about Terry and Poppy but I was a little surprised to find Murphy and Sandy waiting for us with Trix.

"We're getting _weapons!_" Sandy said with a gleam in his eye that made me wonder if this was such a good idea.

Poly spun a few dials and pulled the door open waving us inside, "After you." The inside seemed _much_ bigger than it had looked from the outside – like Poly's truck – all four walls and racks in rows down the middle were hung with deadly weapons of all kinds gleaming a deep, bronzy gold in the fluorescent light. "My philosophy is everybody should carry a ranged weapon _and _a melee weapons so as to cover all eventualities," Poly went on. "So let's try to pick you guys out one of each apiece."

Where to start? I don't have any experience picking weapons – except imaginary ones for a mythomagic character of course. Sandy on the other hand was like a kid in a candy store. Poly took what looked like an M-16 out of his hands saying it was too big and vetoed a wicked dual bladed sword-staff on the same grounds. "This is more your size," he said producing a leather sheath.

Sandy pouted at first but brightened right up after one look at the eighteen inch long machete curved, razor edged blade. "Cool!"

I turned expecting to exchange an appalled look with Terry only to find him experimentally swinging a long, sharp object of his own; a double edged straight sword about a foot longer than Sandy's machete.

"Nice choice," Poly said, "How's it feel?"

"Like it was made for me," Terry answered looking like he couldn't decide whether to be pleased or freaked.

"That's exactly how the right weapon should feel," Poly nodded. "That's Khalkoplektos, the sword of Diomedes of Argos. A lucky blade, you'll do well with him."

"Khalkoplektos," Terry repeated. "Kind of a mouthful, I guess I'll just call it 'Smiter'." 1

"What's mine called?" Sandy asked eagerly.

Poly smiled. "I don't think that one has a name, why don't you pick one for him."

Sandy swung the machete wildly, I winced. "Slasher, I'll call it Slasher!"

"_Epikroustos," _Poly agreed, saying 'slasher' in Ancient Greek. He turned; "How about you, Poppy? See anything you like?"

"Oh yeah!" my sister was holding something that looked like cross between a crossbow and a shotgun made of dark polished wood and bright golden bronze with a sight and a magazine of bronze tipped darts.

Poly nodded. "Another good choice, that's an automatic you'll never run out of darts."

"Cool!"

"Now find yourself something for close work," Poly instructed. He looked around; "Murphy? What'cha got there, pal?"

Looking a little embarrassed my next to youngest brother held up a club of what looked at first glance like knotty olive wood but a second look showed was actually of the same bronzy metal as the other weapons, but dulled down rather than polished. "It's like it's calling me or something," Murphy admitted. "I keep coming back to it."

Poly looked interested. "That's _Spodes_ 2, the club Theseus won from Corynetes. Go ahead and take him, you couldn't do better. He's another lucky one. Now look for something with range." He swung around on me. "What about you, Fancy?"

"I – uh -" hadn't been looking to tell the truth, I'd been too busy worrying about Sandy and Poppy being armed and dangerous. A gleam of white caught my eye and I grabbed at random. A hilt, rounded and ivory warm rather than metal cold, slipped into my hand like it belonged there. It was a long dagger with a sinuous s-curved blade of some white metal instead of the usual golden bronze, and a silver viper head for a pommel. I'm not afraid of snakes but I'm not crazy about them either yet oddly I felt no desire put the dagger back. It wasn't at all what I'd have picked with my brain but my hands had other ideas.

Poly scratched his chin. "Good fit, huh?"

I nodded helplessly.

"Then you'd better have her. Not what I'd have recommended but -" he shrugged. "No arguing with your gut. That's _Ekhiodoe _3 originally she belonged to Tiresias -"

"You're kidding!" I gasped. I was actually holding something owned by my absolute favorite mythomagic character?

"Nope," he shook his head. "She was gift from Athena they say during Tiresias' turn as a woman. The blade is moon-silver which can only be wielded by a woman or girl."

I looked down at the dagger. Now I knew what Terry and Murphy had meant. I didn't want to put it down. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing," Poly assured me. "She's not unlucky to women. You'll be fine with her. Now you need something with range."

Poppy quickly found herself a pair of crook bladed fighting knives. Murphy picked a short bow with a quiver of black arrows and Sandy went for a sling and a pair of rough chunks of 'celestial bronze' ore which Poly explained would always reappear magically in their pouch after use - handy.

Terry and I were less easily suited. Neither of us had any idea what we were looking for, but we knew how it would feel when we found it. Finally Terry picked up what looked like a bronze Frisbee. "This," he said, "whatever it is?"

"A discus," Poly answered, "let me have a closer look…Yeah, I thought so. It's one of Danny's boomerang discii, be careful with it it'll always return to your hand."

"Sounds convenient," Terry said taking it back.

"Oh it is, some folks had problems with the return taking them off guard that's all. Fancy?" Poly turned around to look enquiringly at me.

I started to shrug. Sandy pulled something off a shelf and trotted over to give it to me; "How 'bout this? You like snakes."

"No I don't," I said but I took it. It was a coil of bronze segments topped off by a snake's head with some kind of design on it and a big pearl in its mouth. Suddenly it moved in my hand coiling around my forearm from wrist to elbow – eek!

"Ho-kay," Poly was scratching his chin again. "I'm sensing a pattern developing here. That little toy used to belong to Medea, daughter and priestess of Hecate."

"The one who killed her own kids," I said. "Great."

"You don't have any kids do you?"

I gave him the hairy eyeball – Duh!

"Then you've got nothing to worry about. Hecate's armlet did Medea good service during her adventures with the Argonauts."

I looked at it uncertainly. "So, what does it do besides making a fashion statement?"

"Take a hold of the head." I did and it fit my hand just like _Ekhiodoe._ The bronze snake uncoiled from around my arm hanging straight down. "Now crack it like a whip," said Poly, "aim for that shield." He pointed at a big bronze disk several yards away a lot farther away than the armlet was long. I cracked and the segments expanded until it _was_ long enough. The tip of the tail drove right through the metal of the shield - Wow!

"Now pull back," said Poly.

I did and the next thing I knew Medea's little legacy was snugly wrapped around my arm again. I wasn't sure I wanted anything that had belonged to her… but I was beginning to grasp that here at Camp Half-Blood it was the weapons that did the picking.

….

Notes _(pardon my Greek; like Shakespeare I have small Latin and less Greek)_:

1 _Khalkoplektos:_ Smiting with a brazen edge – Smiter for short.

2 _Spodes_: Pounder

3 _Ekhiodoe:_ Viper Tooth


	7. In Which We Defend The Honor Of Cabin 11

Connor and Travis (I was starting to be able to tell them apart) were at dinner that night, though they didn't eat much with the Hunters glaring daggers at them from across the pavilion. The rest of the campers were in a festive mood. Beating Artemis' girls at capture the flag seemed to be just about everybody's dearest dream. I was looking forward to it myself. We Fields had spent the entire day practicing with our new weapons. Whoever had had Viper-tooth and the armlet before me they were mine now and nobody was ever getting them away from me!

The nymphs cleared the remainders of food and dirty dishes off the tables. Mark, Poly and Callie brought a blood red flag emblazoned with a spear and a boar's head into the mess pavilion and set it up next to the Ares table. Across the way a couple of Hunters produced a white banner with a silver crescent moon and arrow on it.

Chiron stamped for attention. He did _not_ look happy. "The Hunters of Artemis have accepted the challenge of Camp Half-blood. _Please _remember no killing or maiming is allowed." I wondered if it was us or the Hunters he was worried about – or both. "I will, as always, serve as referee and battlefield medic. The entire forest is fair game. Zephyrus creek is the frontier between the two sides. All magic items are allowed. The banners must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed and you are on your honor not to mishandle them." He swept us all with a look that expressed deep apprehension, sighed and spread his hands; "Heroes, arm yourselves!" and suddenly the tables were covered with armor, shields and weapons. Viper-tooth and my armlet appeared right in front of me and the others' weapons in front of them. The Stolls promptly encased themselves in every piece of celestial bronze plate they could reach with Nico and Harry following suit. I hesitated and so did my siblings. Heavy metal armor is not conducive to mobility – or silence.

"I know what you're thinking," said Trix, "so I went out back and dug up some of Cabin 11's special infiltrator armor." And sure enough under all the big bright breastplates and shields were five of these dark leather tunic things with dull bronze scaled midriffs and three dull bronze shoulder and chest pieces for Terry, Poppy and me. Mine covered about as much as a shrug does and had big armholes that really let my arms move. There were also five helmets that fitted close to the skull and down the back of the neck but left eyes and ears clear and had a sort of tassel for a crest rather than a stiff cockscomb like the others.

"You guys do much infiltrating?" Terry asked helping Sandy adjust a helmet that was just a little too big for him.

Trix and the Stolls exchanged grins, "Oh yeah!"

God of thieves I reminded myself, and wondered exactly what they stole and from whom and what kind of an influence living in Hermes Cabin was going to have on Murphy and Sandy. Then I decided to quit being a responsible big sister. Mom and Dad knew where we were and what it was like here. If they weren't worried why should I be?

We marched into the forest and Mark stationed the Stolls on the banks of a shallow creek where it was crossed by a sort of path then he disappeared into the trees along with the rest of our army.

"Don't worry," Terry said to our nervous looking counselors, "we're right behind you."

"I'd rather you were right in front of us," Connor said grimly.

Poppy looked up from her crossbow. "Not a bad idea. Terry, what say you and me set up on the other side of the creek and Fancy and kids here, that way we'll catch these Hunter girls in a cross-fire."

"Great, let's do that," Terry agreed. "Okay everybody, hide – except you two!" he added as the Stolls started to make a break for the underbrush.

I climbed a tree and stretched out on a long branch hanging over the creek. Travis promptly came to stand practically under my tree while Connor moved over in front of the bush Sandy and Murphy were hiding behind.

"So," I said. "What exactly did you guys do to this Phoebe anyway?"

Travis sighed, "We gave her a t-shirt smeared inside with centaur blood."

"Chiron's blood," I said, remembering what the Stolls had told Callie yesterday. Then I remembered a few other things and was shocked. "Wait a minute, that's what killed Heracles!"

Travis rolled his eyes. "We didn't use anywhere near as much as Deianara did, and what we did use was diluted with milk. It gave her a bad case of hives that's all. And believe you me she had it coming!"

The sunset afterglow faded from what sky we could see through the trees and a star or two came out. Darkness gathered under the canopy of boughs spreading like spilled ink. The color bled out of the Stolls' orange t-shirts and blue plumes and their armor glinted white rather than gold. The world always looks like a black and white movie - with the contrast set on high - in the dark. The Hunters' pale grays really stood out against the black of the undergrowth. There were five of them, which Poppy pointed out later, was a compliment to Travis and Connor since of course the Hunters didn't know about us. It wasn't until they drew their bows that I realized Travis and Connor hadn't seen them at all as they made no move to take cover.

Murphy shot one silvery arrow out of the air. Poppy got two with her automatic crossbow. Terry's discus sliced a fourth in half and I took care of the fifth with a flick of my armlet-whip. The Hunters pulled out these long knives, silver like my Viper-tooth, and charged the Stolls who were just standing there with their mouths hanging open.

Terry's discus knocked one girl's legs out from under her. Sandy took out another two with his slingshot, careful to aim only at well armored areas I was relieved to see. Poppy tackled a fourth from behind and I sent my serpentine whip curling around the fifth girl, who'd gotten almost across the creek, hoisted her up a few feet and let her drop. She landed with a splash and lay still – face up thank goodness.

The Stolls finally unfroze and dragged her out as I lowered myself to the ground. Travis looked up at me in shock. "She's asleep!"

"What?"

"So are these," Terry called from the other bank prodding a Hunter with his toe. "What gives?"

"You're asking us?" Connor answered.

Before any of us had a chance to point out that the Stolls were the experts on myth and magic here, there came a tremendous crashing along with laughter and outraged screams from the far side of the creek then Callie exploded into view, the Hunters' white and silver banner streaming in her hands. Poly and Mark were guarding her back, fending off a couple of outraged Eternal Maidens with the rest of our army right behind them.

The whole cavalcade splashed across the creek and the banner flushed rose red and the crescent and arrow turned into a pair of cooing doves. Aphrodite's girls shrieked with joy and danced around kissing every boy they could catch – and the boys didn't look like they minded – while two angry Hunters glared all and sundry then came over to look at their supine sisters.

"What did you do to them," one snarled at Poppy.

"Nothing," she answered defensively. "I mean nothing to make them fall asleep."

And they wouldn't wake up. The Hunters still on their feet called their names, shook them, even dabbed water from the creek on their faces but they slept on and nobody seemed to know why, not even Chiron.

"This is very strange he said; which is not what you expect to hear from a centaur who measures his life in millennia not mere centuries. "Tell me again, exactly what happened."

"We were hiding," Terry said for at least the third time, "Poppy and me on the Hunters' side of the creek, the rest on ours behind Travis and Connor. These five girls came along –"

"And these guys shot their arrows out of the air!" Connor interrupted. "I mean they've gotta be Apollo's with marksmanship like that!"

"How they knew the Hunters were even there I don't know," Travis continued, I mean it was pitch black under those trees."

"Yeah but the Hunters practically glowed in that pale gray," I said to him. "You couldn't see them?"

"You gotta have seen them!" said Murphy and we all nodded.

"Night sight is not an Apollonian trait," Chiron observed studying us thoughtfully. "So – what did you do then?"

"They charged the Stolls and we attacked," Terry said helplessly.

"Carefully!" I put in quickly. "Not killing or maiming."

"Right," Sandy agreed. "I aimed for the breastplate."

"They went down," Terry finished, "and they didn't get up. We checked them and they were asleep."

"Did you try to wake them?" Chiron asked.

We looked at each other. "Well, no," Poppy said speaking for all of us. "Stuff started happening, then the Hunters sort of took over."

Chiron waved a hand towards the row of sleeping beauties. "Try now."

We exchanged what are called speaking glances then each picked a sleeper and bent down to shake her gingerly. Five sets of eyes opened instantly then five Hunters were scrambling to their feet and getting far away from us as fast they could.


	8. We Learn We Have Superpowers

"Now _that's_ what I call a cool power!" Travis said with enthusiasm. "Not only do you knock your enemies cold you give 'em nightmares!"

"We did not," I said stubbornly.

"I'm afraid you did, child," Chiron said looking troubled.

The Hunters were still trying to calm down their formerly sleeping sisters and shooting vicious looks at us Fields while the rest of the campers stood around staring and whispering. Nobody seemed to care we were in the middle of a monster haunted forest.

"That would explain those Cyclopes," Poly said thoughtfully.

I suddenly remembered the Cyclops that had dropped asleep, and dropped Terry. I looked at my brother and he looked back, yeah he was remembering it too. "We don't do it deliberately," he said. "It just happens."

"Control is often a problem when a demigod's powers begin to develop," Chiron said still looking worried.

"Clearly this one only kicks in when they feel threatened," Mark said, "Poly and I spent most of this afternoon sparring with them without anything happening."

"_We_ wouldn't send anybody nightmares," Sandy broke in pointing rudely at the Stolls "but I bet _they_ would!"

"I beg your pardon," said Chiron as our two counselors stared at Sandy like he was raving.

"Everybody sends dreams," I said beginning to shake. "Like everybody can see in the dark – can't they?"

"No, my dear," Chiron said very kindly, "they can't."

…

Our centaur in _loco parentis_ ended up taking the five of us down to the big house and gave us hot chocolate. It's pretty upsetting to find out what you always thought was perfectly ordinary is actually a superpower. Even Sandy seemed rattled which was good. If he'd greeted _this_ development with his usual enthusiasm I'd have committed fratricide.

Suddenly we heard Mr. D's voice in the hall outside. "Well that pretty much settles whose kids they are," he was saying.

"We mustn't jump to conclusions, Mr. D," Chiron replied. "There are several possibilities -"

He was answered by a juicy snort. Then the door to the parlor opened and Chiron entered ducking his head under the door frame and thankfully alone. He folded himself down on the rug facing the couch and looked at us sympathetically. "Are you feeling better now? I personally have always found hot chocolate soothing to the nerves."

We made noncommittal noises but I've got to admit it didn't hurt.

"So," Terry said carefully. "Being able to send and receive dreams, and find things out by dreaming them is a demigodly power?"

"It most certainly is, and a most uncommon one," Chiron answered, still in the soothing voice.

"And so is putting people to sleep and seeing in the dark," said Poppy.

"Only we don't know how we do the first one," added Murphy.

"Yes," Chiron agreed. "It would be most advisable for you to learn how to control your sleep power as quickly as possible." He looked interested now instead of worried. "I imagine manipulating the Mist will come easily to you as well."

"The what?"

Chiron steepled his fingers over his chest; "When our world mixes with the mortal it generates a – a sort of distortion field we call the Mist that allows regular humans to interpret the happenings in a way that suits their world view." He shook his head ruefully. "It can be quite remarkable what they come up with. A Half-blood can learn to manipulate the Mist to his or her advantage. I will be happy to teach you how – but not tonight." Chiron looked at his wristwatch. "It's well past curfew, I'll escort you back to your cabin. Try to get some sleep."

…..

Everybody in Cabin 11 was wide awake and waiting for us.

"So, you guys cool now?" Travis asked sounding a little concerned.

"You should be," his brother added. "I mean those are some sweet powers."

"Yeah," said Nico regretfully. "I haven't got any."

"That you've discovered yet," Travis said reassuringly. "You've only been here what – four, five days?"

"I bet you're a son of Hecate like me," Harry said and explained; "I can't use my magic much yet either. We need to be taught."

"Chiron said he was going to teach us," said Murphy.

"Lucky," Harry answered, "he said I should wait for Jennifer, she's my sister."

"You know," Trix said suddenly, "If it weren't impossible I'd guess you guys were Artemis' kids. I mean the marksmanship and the night sight fit her perfectly."

"Hey!" Connor started upright on his upper bunk. "Maybe their mom is one of the Menai. That would fit everything, even the sleep and dream magic."

"What's a Menai?" I asked. I know my Greek mythology pretty well but that was a new one on me.

"The daughters of Selene, the old goddess of the Moon," Trix answered. "There's fifty or so of them; goddesses of the phases of the moon, magic and madness."

That didn't sound like Mom at all. "Neither of our parents is a god," said Poppy.

Trix rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you kids are worse than Charice!" The Stolls laughed.

"Who?" said Poppy.

"Another new kid, you'll meet her this summer," Trix explained. "Her dad's a minister and she's a real serious Christian -"

"Which means she won't worship the gods and she won't believe she's the daughter of one," Travis finished for her.

Trix nodded. "I guess she'll stay in denial until she's claimed."

"We're not going to be claimed," Terry, Poppy and I said in ragged unison.

…..

Things were kind of tense at breakfast. People were sitting close together, muttering to each other and not paying any attention to the people at other tables. "What gives?" I asked Trix after sacrificing a slice of French toast to the gods.

"This isn't about last night is it?" Terry asked uneasily.

"It's got nothing to do with you," Trix answered. "But tonight is the Winter Solstice."

"And that's a bad thing?" Terry wondered.

"Not usually," Connor said frowning, "but this year isn't usual."

"Artemis has been captured," his brother went on, "probably by Kronos or somebody working for him."

"Winter Solstice is one of the two big meeting times of the gods," Connor resumed; "if Artemis isn't there, with her firsthand account of the Titans' rising the gods are going to go on ignoring the danger for another year."

"Which would be real bad," said Travis.

"So my sister and some other kids went on a quest to rescue Artemis," said Nico looking kind of worried. "I sure hope they're okay."

"We all do, Nico," said Connor.

…..

Well that was one depressing day. Nobody could settle to anything, people just wandered around making half-hearted attempts at training. It was like the suspense was killing them, like the whole camp was holding its breath hoping for the best but afraid of the worst.

Mark wasn't alone at Cabin 5's table that night. There were a couple of kids sporting slings and bandages and a tall, muscular girl I hadn't seen before. She and Mark came over to Table 11 after we'd finished eating.

The girl gave us the once over with reddish brown eyes. She had strong bones and raggedly cut brown hair but she could have been downright beautiful if she'd just taken some trouble with her look. "So," she said after she finished dissecting us with her eyes, "Mark says you guys are good fighters."

"Mark said, _very_ good," he corrected with a smile at us. "This is my sister Clarisse, counselor of Cabin 5."

Well that was a heck of a name for a daughter of Ares! I mean how girly can you get? And this Clarisse was anything but girly.

"Finally beat those dammed Hunters thanks to you," she grunted. "Good going. We need fighters."

The sing-along that night was a total failure. The bonfire burned really low and was this funny dirty white color. Travis explained that the height and color of the bonfire was magically tied to the mood of the campers. Clearly the mood tonight was rotten. Everybody gave up after about a half hour and went to bed. Sometimes s'mores just aren't enough.

Even Sandy was glad to go to bed which pretty much says it all about what kind of day it had been. The serious faces on the campers and on Chiron had got me worrying too. I wanted to know what had happened – so I dreamed it.


	9. I Eavesdrop On The Gods

I was in this huge domed hall with a starry ceiling, like the biggest fanciest planetarium in the world, and these elaborate thrones, every one different, arranged in a U around a central hearth. I knew the people sitting in them had to be the gods because Mr. D was slumped in a vine covered throne at the end of the right hand row. He was sitting next to this unbelievably beautiful woman in a Givenchy evening dress who reminded me a little of Callie and a little of Silena and was obviously Aphrodite. Next to her was what looked like a Middle School girl with her reddish hair pulled back in a ponytail wearing a silvery Greek chiton. The bow and quiver of arrows leaning against her silver throne made it clear she was Artemis. And there was no question whatever about the identity of the goddess sitting next to her with an owl perched on the shoulder of her white silk dress – possibly Armani – or maybe Donna Karan. She just had to be Athena. Meaning the dark haired lady in green was Demeter and the silver haired lady in a shimmery irridescent dress sitting on an elaborate golden throne at the head of the hall was Hera, queen of the gods.

Somehow I'd never imagined Zeus in a pinstriped business suit but that's what he was wearing, along with a grumpy expression. The guy in the fisherman's chair next to him had to be Poseidon dressed in a Hawaiian print shirt and Bermuda shorts. I recognized Ares right off because he looked like Mark – or rather Mark looked like his dad – only a lot less friendly in lots of black leather and chains. Then there was this lumpish, shaggy, kind of ugly guy next to him - Hephaestus? And a real stud, all blond and tanned, in a white linen casual suit with I-pod buds in his ears who must be Apollo. And finally another good looking guy in a suit with slanting brows and upturned nose who could only be Connor, Travis and Trix's dad Hermes. It wasn't until I saw the three kids being hugged by a satyr that I realized how _big_ the gods were.

"Heroes," that was Artemis. She slid off her throne, shrinking to human size as she did so and walked towards the kids. Apparently they were the heroes. "The Council has been informed of your deeds," the goddess continued. "They know that Mount Othrys is rising in the West. They know of Atlas's attempt for freedom and the gathering armies of Kronos. We have voted to act."

Well good for them! Geez, but some people have to have their noses rubbed in it don't they?

"At my Lord Zeus's command my brother Apollo and I shall hunt the most powerful monsters, seeking to strike them down before they can join the Titan's cause," Artemis said. "Lady Athena shall personally check on the other Titans to make sure they do not escape their various prisons. Lord Poseidon has been given permission to unleash his full fury on the cruise ship _Princess Andromeda_ and send it to the bottom of the sea."

Huh? What did the gods have against cruise ships?

"And as for you, my heroes," Artemis turned to face her relatives. "These half-bloods have done Olympus a great service. Would any here deny that?" One by one she looked them right in the face.

Hermes winked at the kids. Apollo gave them a thumbs-up. Mr. D just looked bored. Ares was leaning forward and glaring down at the kids while sharpening a big nasty knife in a suggestive sort of way.

"I gotta say"—Apollo broke the silence—"these kids did okay." He cleared his throat and began to recite: "_Heroes win laurels_—"

"Um, yes, first class," Hermes interrupted, like he was anxious to avoid Apollo's poetry. Then he said something that shocked me: "All in favor of not disintegrating them?"

A few tentative hands went up—Demeter, Aphrodite. What the hell?

"Wait just a minute," Ares growled. He pointed at the dark haired boy and girl. "These two are dangerous. It'd be much safer, while we've got them here—"

"Ares," Poseidon interrupted, "they are worthy heroes. We will not blast my son to bits."

"Nor my daughter," Zeus grumbled. "She has done well."

Well at least the gods stood up for their kids!

The goddess Athena cleared her throat and sat forward. "I am proud of my daughter as well. But there is a security risk here with the other two."

"Mother!" The blond girl gasped as if in shock. "How can you—"

Athena cut her off with a calm but firm look. "It is unfortunate that my father, Zeus, and my uncle, Poseidon, chose to break their oath not to have more children. Only Hades kept his word, a fact that I find ironic.

Okay, what was that all about?

As we know from the Great Prophecy, children of the three elder gods… such as Thalia and Percy… are dangerous. As thickheaded as he is, Ares has a point."

"Right!" Ares said. "Hey, wait a minute. Who you callin'—"

I couldn't help snickering at that but I was still shocked. This was no way to treat heroes, and what 'Great Prophecy'?

Ares started to get up holding his freshly sharpened knife ready for a fight but a grape vine grew around his waist like a seat belt and pulled him back down.

"Oh, please, Ares," sighed Mr. D. "Save the fighting for later."

Ares said some pretty bad words in Greek and ripped away the vine. "You're one to talk, you old drunk. You seriously want to protect these brats?"

Mr. D gave the kids an indifferent look. "I have no love for them. Athena, do you truly think it safest to destroy them?"

"I do not pass judgment," Athena said. "I only point out the risk. What we do, the Council must decide."

Boy, what a weasel. I was getting pretty disillusioned with my former favorite goddess.

"I will not have them punished," Artemis said. "I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it."

You go girl!

"Calm down, sis," Apollo said. "Jeez, you need to lighten up."

Excuse me? We're talking cold blooded murder here for something these kids _might_ do. I was glad to see at least one god though it was a bad thing.

"Don't call me _sis_!" Artemis snapped at him. "I will reward them."

You know, I was really starting to like her.

"Well," Zeus grumbled, "Perhaps. But the monster at least must be destroyed. We have agreement on that?"

The gods all nodded. Killing monsters was fine by them but not by the son of Poseidon.

"Bessie?" he sputtered. "You want to destroy Bessie?"

"Mooooooo!" went a sort of cow-eel swimming around in a giant goldfish bowl bubble of water that what with one thing and another I had completely failed to notice.

Poseidon gave his kid a disbelieving look. "You have named the Ophiotaurus Bessie?"

Oh. The Ophiotaurus. Yeah, the gods had a right to be pretty worried about him. On the other hand for a monster that could destroy the world 'Bessie' was awful cute.

"Dad," the kid said earnestly, "he's just a sea creature. A really nice sea creature. You can't destroy him."

Poseidon shifted uncomfortably. "Percy, the monster's power is considerable. If the Titans were to steal it, or—"

"You can't," Percy insisted and turned to give Zeus, the king of the gods, a defiant glare right in the eye. This kid had guts! "Controlling the prophecies never works. Isn't that true?" he asked. "Besides, Bess—the Ophiotaurus is innocent. Killing something like that is wrong. It's just as wrong as… as Kronos eating his children, just because of something they might do. It's wrong!"

Well thank goodness _somebody_ had an elementary sense of ethics around here. The fact that it was not one of the gods was more than a little worrying.

Zeus thought this over, his eye straying to the girl he'd called his daughter. "And what of the risk?" he asked kind of feebly. "Kronos knows full well, if one of you were to sacrifice the beast's entrails, you would have the power to destroy us."

One of who? And who the heck would want to do something like that other than Kronos?

"Do you think we can let that possibility remain?" Zeus went on. "You, my daughter, will turn sixteen on the morrow, just as the prophecy says."

What prophecy?

"You have to trust them," the blond daughter of Athena said suddenly. "Sir, you have to trust them."

Zeus scowled. "Trust a hero?"

You mean like the guys who just saved your bacon? Get real Zeus!

"Annabeth is right," Artemis said. "Which is why I must first make a reward. My faithful companion, Zoe Nightshade, has passed into the stars. I must have a new lieutenant. And I intend to choose one. But first, Father Zeus, I must speak to you privately." He leaned forward putting his head down to knee level so he could hear her. Percy and Annabeth whispered together too. He looked kind of upset and I sure could see why. Suddenly I understood perfectly how Half-bloods could throw in with Kronos if this was any example of the way the gods treated them!

Zeus and Artemis finished their discussion. "I shall have a new lieutenant," she announced turning away from her father, "if she will accept it; Thalia Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?"

Why the heck would any girl in her right mind want to join the Hunt? But apparently Thalia Daughter of Zeus wasn't in her right mind. "I will." She said.

Zeus got up, towering over Artemis and looking down at Thalia with eyes full of concern. "My daughter, consider well—"

"Father," she interrupted. "I will not turn sixteen tomorrow. I will never turn sixteen. I won't let this prophecy be mine. I stand with my sister Artemis. Kronos will never tempt me again."

And there was that dammed prophecy again. What was that all about?

Thalia knelt before her godly sister and pledged to turn her back forever on men – then immediately got up and went to hug Percy. The three of them and the satyr talked quietly together for a few minutes then Thalia posted herself next to Artemis' throne and the goddess resumed the floor.

"Now for the Ophiotaurus," Artemis said.

"This boy is still dangerous," Mr. D warned. "The beast is a temptation to great power. Even if we spare the boy—"

"No." Percy interrupted him. "Please. Keep the Ophiotaurus safe. My dad can hide him under the sea somewhere, or keep him in an aquarium here in Olympus. But you have to protect him."

"And why should we trust you?" rumbled Hephaestus.

Oh I don't know… maybe because he just rescued one of you from a big bad Titan?

"I'm only fourteen," Percy said. He was my age. "If this prophecy is about me, that's two more years."

"Two years for Kronos to deceive you," Athena said. "Much can change in two years, my young hero."

"Mother!" Annabeth said exasperated, and she wasn't the only one!

"It is only the truth, child. It is bad strategy to keep the animal alive. Or the boy."

Oh how I wished I could give this bunch of plus sized idiots a piece of my mind!

Poseidon did it for me. "I will not have a sea creature destroyed, if I can help it. And I can help it." He held out his hand, and a trident appeared in it: a twenty foot long bronze shaft with three spear tips that shimmered with blue, watery light. "I will vouch for the boy and the safety of the Ophiotaurus."

"You won't take it under the sea!" Zeus stood suddenly. "I won't have that kind of bargaining chip in your possession."

Wow. Like serious trust issues here!

"Brother, please," Poseidon sighed.

Zeus's lightning bolt appeared in his hand, a shaft of electricity radiating jagged little bolts of electricity like one of those mad-scientist bubbles.

"Fine," Poseidon said. "I will build an aquarium for the creature here. Hephaestus can help me. The creature will be safe. We shall protect it with all our powers. The boy will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor."

Zeus thought about this. "All in favor?"

Nine hands went up. Mr. D abstained. So did Ares and Athena.

"We have a majority," Zeus decreed. "And so, since we will not be destroying these heroes… I imagine we should honor them. Let the triumph celebration begin!"

That's when I woke up.


	10. Mark Becomes Fair Game

There was light coming through the front windows; silvery moonlike light from Artemis' Cabin and the flickering orange light of the central bonfire. That was normal. But the sound of voices in the common was not. They weren't loud enough to wake anybody else but I got up quietly and snuck out on the porch to see what was going on.

Artemis was hugging tearful Hunters in front of Cabin 8. She looked just like she had in my dream except now she was wearing silver jeans and a parka instead of a chiton. Her sister Thalia was standing off to one side watching. She was in the Hunter uniform now too and wearing a sort of silver tiara on her spikey hair.

Chiron was watching too and some disappointed looking harpies (think bag-ladies with wings) were eyeing one or two kids from the other cabins who'd come out to see what was going on.

Mark was one of them so naturally I decided to get a little closer to the action. But before I could kind of accidently-on-purpose notice he was there Thalia Daughter of Zeus beat me to it. I did _not_ follow them. They decided to have their talk near the statue I was standing in the shadow of all by themselves.

"You, a Hunter?" Mark said in disbelief. "You lost your mind or something, Thal?"

She looked embarrassed but determined. "I know it's like a One-Eighty for me, Mark, but there are reasons. I turn sixteen tomorrow if I stay mortal and you know what that means!" I just wished I did. "Besides, I kind of owe this to Zoe."

"And you and me?" He asked.

"We can still be friends," she said. Mark gave her this quizzical eyebrow look and she slapped her forehead. "Gods! I can't believe I just said that." The moment passed fast. "I suppose you think I'm a coward for sticking Percy with the Prophecy." _What_ prophecy?

Mark shook his head. "You're a lot of things, Thal, but never a coward.

"I was tempted," she looked haunted, scared. "I don't trust me. I do trust Percy."

This time Mark nodded. "The kid is solid. All the signs say he's the one. You did the right thing, Thal, but – the Hunters?"

She grimaced. "It's not just to escape the Prophecy, Mark, believe me. It's not even just for Zoe. Wandering the countryside hunting monsters with Luke and Annabeth was the best time in my life. Now I can go back to those days forever."

Some people have a really strange idea of the perfect life.

"What's Zeus think?" Mark asked like he really wanted to know.

Thal smiled sort of affectionately. "He was worried at first – I mean he was afraid I'd take after him in the romance department and get myself turned into an animal and hunted. But we had a long talk, the longest we've _ever_ had, and he's okay with it now." She looked up at Mark and there were tears swimming in her eyes. "He really does care about me. He wants me to be safe and happy."

I remembered the concern on Zeus's face when he looked at her. Yeah, he cared about his own kid at least.

"Told you, didn't I?" Mark said.

"Yeah," Thalia's smile was getting kind of damp. "You know what he said? He said his two favorite daughters could take care of each other for him. Everybody knows Artemis is his godly favorite but I thought I was just an embarrassment to him…that he'd rather I was a tree…"

Mark took a hanky from his pocket and handed it to her. "Blow your nose. Friends," he continued after she did, "that mean the Hunters are going to be nicer to us Campers from now on?"

"Weelllll…" She wadded up the hanky and put in her own pocket, grinning. "I guess we can be _nice -_ if you guys are nice to us."

"We'll work on it," said Mark. He heaved this big, theatrical sigh. "Gods, I have the worst luck with girls; first Callie, now you."

Thalia punched him in the arm. "Come on, you never even kissed me!"

He made a face. "What – trying to kill you every chance I got wasn't romantic enough for you?"

"You're an idiot, Mark," Thalia said sounding happy. Artemis waved an arm. "Oops, gotta go. I'll be seeing you – promise."

She trotted over to her goddess and the whole lot of them streamed away towards the Forest in a shimmer of moonlight bright enough for Mark to finally see me.

I moved out of the statue's shadow. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. If you talk in the common you gotta expect to be overheard. It wasn't all that private really." He looked a little ruefully after the Hunters, now just a silver light in the distance. "It's not like we were dating or anything."

"But moving in that direction?" I suggested.

"Maybe, maybe not, obviously not," he shrugged. "Like I said, I got lousy luck with girls, never gotten off home plate in my life."

"Would you like too?" I asked.

His eyebrows did things. "That's a come-on, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "I think I've found your problem." Let's just say I went back to bed feeling pretty darn good


	11. In Which We Lose Nico

A satyr knocked on the door the next morning while everybody was dressing and told Connor and Travis they were wanted up at the Big House. They went off at once with hair uncombed and shoes untied muttering to each other and trying to figure out what they'd done.

The rest of us were wondering the exact same thing as we went to breakfast. They haven't left the cabin for three days and we were with them every minute yesterday," Trix mused. "I mean unless they got up in night to pull something…"

"I really don't think they were in the mood to make trouble last night," Terry said dubiously, helping himself to hash brown potatoes.

Trix snorted. "They are _always _in the mood to make trouble.

One of the hulking Hephaestus guys from at the next table must have heard because he called over; "Percy and Annabeth got back early this morning and Chiron called a counselors meeting."

Nico dropped his fork. "They're back! Is Bianca with them?" He didn't wait for answer but scrambled off the bench and ran for the Big House.

Uh oh. "The Hunters left last night," I said. "I sure hope his sister didn't go with them."

"Without saying good-bye?" Poppy asked. "She wouldn't."

"Maybe," I said but Hunters aren't very considerate, especially of boys.

Cabin 11 had clean up that morning so nobody expected Nico or the Stolls to come back during the first activity period. At Camp Half-Blood we wash dishes in lava – yes _lava_ – meaning you have to wear shoulder high asbestos gloves, aprons and splash masks which was good because Sandy, Murphy and Harry decided to get into a lava fight. So the rest of us were steaming in more senses than one when we tramped into the arena for our unarmed combat class and found the Stolls waiting but no Nico.

Our counselors looked unusually serious. "Bianca was killed on the quest," Travis explained. "Percy took the kid out to break the news and neither of them has been seen since."

"Oh, poor Nico," Harry cried.

Murphy cracked his knuckles, a maddening habit he has when he's upset. Sandy turned absolutely paper white. I think it was just then, for the first time, it came home to him that this wasn't some cool LARP but Real Life and a real war where people could die.

Well Nico never showed for unarmed combat, his absolute favorite class, and he wasn't at lunch either. When he failed to appear for third period tracking skills with our goaty friend Woody the rest of us demanded that the Stolls do something.

"Like what?" Travis asked. "We've already checked the cabin and he's not there."

"Like go down to the Big House and ask what's going on!" Trix snapped right back.

"That's an idea," Connor said to his brother. "If the kid took it really hard Chiron might have put him in the infirmary for observation."

"Well go check!" We all yelled. So he did. Woody, nice satyr that he is, agreed to delay the start of class until Connor came back with news, or better still Nico. He came back alone and the news was grim.

"Nico's gone."

"What do you mean 'gone'?" said Harry.

"I mean run away," Connor answered him. "When Nico heard his sister was dead he ran off into the forest. Percy, Annabeth and Grover have been hunting for him ever since and found nothing. He's probably been eaten."

Sandy lost all his color again and I shouted, "Connor!"

"What?" he shouted back. "That's what happens when you go into the forest unarmed!"

"And it's better than the alternative," Woody said grimly.

"Yeah," Connor agreed. "Better dead then captured by Kronos!"

We didn't have tracking that day or any of our other scheduled activities. We went back to Cabin 11 and huddled together on the girls' side where we didn't have to look at Nico's bunk. Chiron came down to talk to us bringing Percy Jackson with him.

He looked taller than he had in my dream, alongside fifteen or twenty foot gods, and scarily grown up. There was a grim set to his mouth and sadness in his eyes that I really didn't want to see on the faces of my own brothers or Poppy either.

"It's all my fault," he said bluntly. "I promised Nico I'd take care of his sister and I didn't."

"Get real, Perce," Connor answered. "That's not the kind of promise a hero can keep no matter how hard he tries." It was funny how campers referred to themselves and each other as 'heroes' like it was a job description or something.

"It was in the prophecy," Travis agreed. "You can't fight the Fates." Maybe not but Percy Jackson looked to me like the kind of guy who'd try.

"What prophecy?" I asked.

Chiron answered; "_Five shall go west to the goddess in chains;_ which was Artemis. _One shall be lost in the land without rain –"_

"Which turned out to be Bianca," said Percy.

"_The bane of Olympus shows the trail-"_ Chiron continued.

"The Ophiotaurus!" I blurted. "I'm so glad you saved her, Percy. She's the cutest sea monster I've ever seen."

He and Chiron both stared at me. "Bessie's a 'him'," said Percy. "And how do you know about that?"

"I dreamed it," I said. "I wanted to know what was happening." I turned to Chiron; "You know the gods were all set to kill Percy and Thalia 'just in case'? What kind of divine morality is that?"

Chiron looked distressed but not surprised. "I am afraid the Olympians sometimes favor expediency over morality."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Percy said dryly.

"No offense, Percy," I said to him. "I mean your dad seems like a real cool guy standing up for you and the ophiotaurus like he did, but I am _so_ glad none of those other clowns are _our_ parents!" Chiron and the regular campers all opened their mouths but I rode over them. "Look, I saw the gods and our mom and dad were _not_ there."

"Just like we've been telling you all along," Terry added.

"Not all gods have thrones on Olympus," Chiron said. "There are a number of minor divinities and underworld gods like Harry's mother."

Some people just will not listen!

"But what about Nico," Harry pleaded. "He could be alive somewhere."

"We haven't given up on him," Percy answered. "Annabeth, me, the other campers out in the real world and the satyrs will keep looking." He looked determined, like nothing better get in his way. "And if Kronos has got him we'll rescue him. I swear it on the River Styx!"

Chiron looked dismayed and the Stolls exchanged glances. "Way to get yourself killed, Percy," Travis said.

"I owe it to Bianca," Poseidon's son answered stubbornly.

…..

The rest of the day pretty much sucked. Sandy and Harry had this huge fight with the Stolls over what to do with Nico's stuff. The younger boys wanted to keep their friend's bunk exactly the way he'd left it but our counselors though Nico's clothes and other things should be packed away because like who needed the reminder. They backed down fast after Harry gave them donkey ears.

The whispers and sympathetic looks from the other tables at dinner didn't help anybody's mood but trust Mr. D to make things that much worse. Yeah he was back from Olympus and still in a bad mood over not being allowed to kill Percy or Thalia or at least the Ophiotaurus. Chiron stomped for attention and Mr. D heaved himself to his feet.

"I'm supposed to tell you brats its official; Kronos has risen. That means war and your mommies and daddies are all aflutter over your safety. So, full security measures are back in place including a nightly patrol of the boundaries. Happily setting that up is your problem and not mine." He started to sit down but pulled himself back upright at a sharp, reminding look from Chiron. "Oh yes, our new campers Blanche and Nicky Diablo are both missing. The girl's presumed dead and the boy probably is too. Boo hoo."

I grabbed Murphy just in time as he made a lunge for our camp director with blood in his eye. Murph's an easygoing kid as a rule, but trust me you do _not_ want to make him mad. On the other hand mixing it up with a god seemed like a real bad idea to me. Across the table the Stolls were sitting on Sandy and Harry. Luckily the rest of us were old enough to have a little self-control. Unluckily the death glares coming from our table didn't seem to faze Mr. D at all.

Neither did Chiron's more-in-sorrow-than-anger look. "Capture the Flag is cancelled for tonight," he said as Mr. D trudged off to the Big House. It was a measure of the mood that nobody groaned. "Instead there will be a full scale search of the forest and monster hunt. We are looking for any trace of Nico di Angelo. Poseidon, Athena and Hermes' cabins will take the south forest, work your way northward to the creek. Ares, Hephaestus and Aphrodite's cabins will search the north forest from the sound to the creek. Destroy any monster you encounter. They are a danger we can no longer tolerate." He made his usual gesture and the tables filled with weapons and armor. "Heroes, arm yourselves."


End file.
